Counting On … – Page 13

Counting on … day 105

9th July 2025

Mend, darn and repair clothes. Ideally clothes and household fabrics will give us years of use and pleasure. And even as they wear out, they can still be of use.

Initially we can avoid waste by looking after our clothes and household fabrics will – ‘a stitch in time saves nine’ is a reminder that the sooner we restitch a broken hem or seem, or mind a tear, or darn a hole, the smaller will be the necessary repair. It can be tempting not to repair an item if it’s replacement is cheap – eg holes in socks, but we should consider not just the cost of replacement but the cost of discarding the sock. On that basis darning a hole makes even more sense. (1)

We have moved from a society that would turn collars and replace cuffs rather than buy a new shirt (2), or that would cut old sheets in half and resew, sides to the middle, to get maximum use from the sheet (3)

You can also patch clothes, sheets and even towels (4) but eventually you may get to the stage where the item is no longer useable in its present form. Then rather than being throw away waste, maybe the item can be repurposed. An old sheets and even might be transformed into a pillow slip or a pile of handkerchiefs. A towel might become a set of flannels or cleaning clothes. Old socks make good dusters or shoe polishing cloths. A t-shirt might become a duster or a pair of pants. (5)

(1) https://www.woolovers.com/page/how-to-darn-a-sock

(2) https://mathomhouse.typepad.com/bluestocking/2016/11/turning-shirt-collars.html

(3) https://forum.lettucecraft.com/t/turning-a-sheet-sides-to-middle-saving-the-planet-one-mend-at-a-time/22619

(4) https://designmom.com/living-well-4-secrets-to-patching-clothes/

(5) https://www.redhandledscissors.com/2010/06/17/t-shirt-to-underpants-upcycling/

Counting on … day 104

8th July 2025

Waste paper – not all waste paper needs to go into the recycling bin. Much can be reused.

Writing paper that has been used on one side only, can be used in the printer – including business letters which are often printed on really good quality paper. (But use discretion if you are sharing print-outs that you don’t accidentally share private information).

Christmas cards can be cut up for gift tags (but how many do you need?) or alternatively cut up into useful sizes for shopping lists, memos and phone messages.

You can cut the picture from a greeting card and reuse it as a post card. Oxfam even prints postcard outlines on the box of their cards. And if you are hand delivering a card, write on the envelope in pencil – and don’t stick down the flap – so that it can easily be reused. Reusing envelopes is generally another idea.

Wrapping paper too can be reused if carefully folded and kept after use. Using string or ribbon – or elastic bands – instead of sticky tape is good practice.

Old paper bags or sheets of newspaper can be used to line kitchen compost buckets.

Counting on … day 103

7th July 2025

Making good use of ‘waste’ food. Food waste is a sizeable problem in terms of food that could be eaten by people who struggle to afford food, in terms of the ‘waste’ of water and other resources used in producing wasted food, and in the unnecessary contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

In our household situations we can avoid wasting food by not buying more than we need /can store; not cooking more than we will eat – portion control; reusing left over food such as making bread pudding with stale bread, making salads with left over potatoes; making jams and pickles with excess fruits and vegetables; making compost using teabags, outer leaves of cabbages etc; making vinegar with apple cores.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/collections/stale_bread_recipes

Vegan bread pudding – https://www.wandercooks.com/chester-squares-gur-cake/#recipe

Jam, chutney and pickles – https://greentau.org/2021/08/23/preserving-fruit-and-vegetables/

Cider vinegar – https://greentau.org/2021/10/07/count-down-75/

– https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/gardening-tips/how-to-make-your-own-compost

Counting on … day 102

4th July 2025

Fast fashion is as destructive of our environment as fast tech and is fuelled by many of the same features. Fast fashion is cheap (in terms of purchase price only – its lifetime cost is considerably more when factoring in disposal); its new and trendy and it – and its advertising – is designed to attract our attention; it’s intended to have a short life.

Yet just like fast tech, fast fashion produced vast amounts of waste that cannot easily be recycled. And like fast tech, a lot of the materials used in production are plastic based (ie synthetic fibres, plastic zips etc). Instead discarded clothing ends in landfill sites, in incinerators, clogging up oceans, and strewn across deserts.

Again we need to ask ourselves: Do I need this item of clothing? Should I buy the cheapest, or should I look for the durable, repairable option? Will I value it?

And we also need to ask questions about the system that allows so many cheap (and not so cheap) items of clothing to be produced and as quickly discarded. Does the fashion industry need to be held to accountable? Should manufacturers also be responsible for end of life disposal or recycling of garments? Should manufacturers be reviewing how much plastic goes into their garments? And on a related issue, should manufacturers be reviewing how much they pay those who actually do the making? Cheap products are often cheap because wages are cheap.

Counting on … day 100

2nd July 2025

Plastic recycling is now much more common place, with local authorities making collections of certain frequently used items such as plastic bottles, margerine and other food tubs, shampoo bottles etc. Soft plastics can be recycled if they are kept separate from more rigid plastics – and some supermarkets have collection points for these. However there is, apparently, no guarantee that plastics going into a recycling bin will be recycled (sometimes it is cheaper and easier to incinerate the waste which causes air pollution). Nor are there many effective closed loop recycling programmes – each a system where a plastic bottle, for example, is recycled and returns as a ready to use plastic bottle. It is often cheaper to make a plastic bottle from virgin oil based polymers than from recycled plastic.

These problems are a further incentive for us to reduce the plastic we use so rescuing the problem at source. If we don’t buy things that come in plastic bottles, plastic tubs and tubes, in plastic wrappers etc then we reduce the amount of plastic that is in circulation before it becomes a problem.

Counting on … day 101

3rdJuly 2025

Plastic waste pollution doesn’t just come from single use items; it also comes from ‘fast tech’ – cheap plastic-encased electronic items that whilst not single use are quickly discarded. Eg hand held fans, electric toothbrushes, mini torches, fairy lights, head phones and ear buds. (1)

Conventional thinking goes:-

Being cheap we don’t worry of it breaks – we just throw it in the bin (from where it will go to landfill)

Being cheap we buy it as a fun gift whether it’s needed or not.

Being cheap we don’t worry about buying another if we forgot to pack it.

Being cheap, well discard last year’s model because this year’s looks so much nicer.

Being cheap we don’t try and look after it or to mend it if it breaks.

The problem of plastic pollution needs us to ask: Do I need this product? Should I buy the cheapest, or should I look for the durable, repairable option? Will I value this product?

(1) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/02/throwaway-culture-products-repair-reuse-recycle-obsolete?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Counting on … day 100

2nd July 2025

Counting on … day 98

30th June 2025

What is waste?

Waste can be what we throw away – what we no longer want. What goes into a waste paper bin or down the waste pipe. That paper bin might as easily be a recycling bin. The waste water pipe might feed into a grey water system and flush the loo too.

Waste can be what is left over when we have cut out the material for an item of clothing – ditto a piece of timber, a sheet of metal etc. The waste from shirt might become a matching pair of boxers, or a lavender bag. A timber off cut might become a bread board.

Waste can be the outer leaves of a cabbage, the stalk from a Brussels sprout plant, the core from an apple. Such waste can be the basis of a compost heap, or the start of a jar of cider vinegar.

Waste land can be the land we don’t cultivate – it may become a haven for biodiversity.

A waste of time – a sense that we could have made better use of the time; ditto a waste of space. But these are both subjective. Wasting time may actually be restful and restorative.

Counting on … day 96

26th June 2025

Expanding access to clean, affordable and sustainable electricity to everyone is one of the UN’s development goals.

The following comes from a report by the Prometheus Institute

“Delivering universal access to “affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030 has become a prominent global target under goal 7 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Great progress has been made in recent years according to the 2024 State of the Global Mini-Grids Market (SOTM) Report, which found the number of people without electricity fell by 466 million between 2010 and 2021. Mini-grids have been a key driver towards greater energy access, with installations in 2024 set to be over six times higher than in 2018.

“The UN has nonetheless predicted that 660 million people around the world will still lack access to electricity by 2030, with Sub-Saharan Africa particularly in need of accelerated efforts.” (1)

Projects to meet these goals need to be financed.

This month the United Nations Development Programme noted that:-“As the global community prepares to convene in Sevilla for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) later this month, one question looms large: how can we mobilize the capital needed to deliver sustainable development in a world of constrained public finance?

“Africa offers a critical part of the answer.

“This week, UNDP launched the Fourth Africa Investment Insights Report—a data-rich guide to 250 real, investable opportunities across 20 countries. These projects span sectors such as renewable energy, health care, agriculture and inclusive infrastructure. Each one combines strong commercial potential with measurable development impact.

“This is not charity. It is strategic investment aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).” (2)

Whilst Climate Home News reported:-

“Climate negotiators in Bonn have been tasked with taking a “deep dive” into how a roadmap to boost climate finance for developing countries should look, so that it can be finalised at COP30 in Brazil –

“… At the start of the mid-year talks, UN climate chief Simon Stiell advised governments that the roadmap for mobilising $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 should not be “just a report, but a how-to guide with clear next steps on dramatically scaling up climate finance and investment”.

“That will mean reconciling widely divergent views among countries about what sources of finance the roadmap should draw on – and what form the money should come in…The “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T” was launched as part of the new climate finance goal (the NCQG) agreed at COP29, with a commitment for donors to raise $300 million annually – largely from the public purse – at its core.

“One main unresolved rift is that developing countries wanted the $1.3 trillion to consist of public money from rich nations – In general, developing countries have requested that the $1.3 trillion should consist of new money that is not re-labelled from other budgets, with public grant money as the bulk of it, excluding loans and other forms of debt.” (3)

Knowing what needs to be done – and knowing how it can be done – is not the same as being willing to pay for what needs to be done.

Counting on … day 95

25th June 2025

Bigger scale, but nevertheless off grid, solar energy systems have been built and are being used in developing countries. The university of Southampton has been involved in pioneering mini grids which provide solar powered electricity and batteries that allow whole communities including schools, clinics and businesses to have 24 access to electricity. Some of the projects double up as units that collect and store rain water during the rainy season to provide the communities with water.

Their website provides details of schemes that have been up and running for more than 10 years

https://energy.soton.ac.uk/mini-grids-and-resilient-networks/